People Are Like Candles
by KeeBee
Summary: "How are people like candles?" "At any moment, a breeze can blow it out. So enjoy the light while you have it. It's like life, Ichigo." "I'll cherish your light for as long as I live. I'm not ready for your flame to go out." AU. GrimmIchi.


**Hi guys! How are you? Well as you may well know, it's Grimm-baby's birthday! Happy birthday to that sexy piece of man. _Unf_. I wanted to post a chapter of A Chance to Protect but I was too lazy so I just put this up. Sorry I'm a lazy piece of poop T-T**

**Anyway, this is a one-shot that was originally meant for a friend but I thought i'd share it with you guys coz I love y'all.**

**If you didn't know by now, this is a GrimmIchi fic.**

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People Are Like Candles

"Do you remember what you told me when we first met?" Ichigo asked the unconscious form in the hospital bed, wiping away a lone tear that didn't have permission to fall in the first place. Excuse him for being emotional. "I never understood what you meant." He sighed. "Maybe you were just trying to be cryptic when, in all actuality, you don't even know what it means." His sad chuckle was just about the only sound in the room. That, and the continuous beeping of the heart monitor accompanied by Grimmjow's steady breathing.

Steady was good.

"You might think I'm full of shit, but I remember every moment we've ever spent together." Ichigo took hold of Grimmjow's once strong hand. A hand that was now delicate due to lack of use. He pressed a kiss on to the back of it, nuzzling the frail appendage to his cheek. "I remember the night your parents kicked you out when you told them that you were gay. You told me 'If they can't accept me for who I am, they won't accept you because you're a part of me. You're way more important to me than their stupid ass opinion.' And then you kissed me right in front of them." Ichigo smiled at this. "Well, outside their living room window anyway. But they still saw us." He ran a hand through his perfectly disheveled orange locks.

Why did it have to be this way?

"Remember when we made that stupid bet to see who could stay up longer?" The honey brown-eyed man asked, although he wasn't entirely sure why he did. It wasn't like Grimmjow could answer him. "We stayed up for three days, running off of nothing but coffee, McDonalds, Skittles and each other. I remember-" he chuckled, placing a hand over his heart. "I remember sitting a couple feet across from you in the living room trying to shoot yellow and red Skittles into your mouth. Those were the only two flavors that you liked." His smile widened. "You yelled at me, half heartedly though, about how terrible my aim was after I beaned you in the forehead, completly missing your mouth." A soft sigh. "I kissed it better so you weren't so upset about it. My favorite memory was when we were fifteen and you snuck over to my house. We spent the night in that blanket fort we made with my bunk beds." Ichigos's soft hold on Grimmjow's limp hand tightened. "That was the night that you tried to count all of my freckles, dotting most of them with a purple highlighter until you guessed that there were 1,453 on my whole body. Then I told you that I had freckles on my butt and you tried to take my pants off and count them." He smiled softly, but that smile fell when the room door opened.

"Mr. Jaegerjaquez, visiting hours are over." The petite nurse spoke when she popped her head in. Ichigo nodded, gathering his things before placing a kiss on his husband's cheek after whispering to him that he would be back tomorrow. The walk through the halls was silent, seeing as how Ichigo always stayed as late as he possibly could at the small hospital.

"Mommy's gonna be okay, right?" A little boy asked the boy next to him, most likely his older brother considering how young he looked. The teen nodded, scooping the small child into his arms and coddling him as though to reassure not only his brother, but himself as well. Ichigo hated seeing people upset. He hated hospitals. If he had it his way, he wouldn't even be here had it not have been for Grimmjow.

The twenty-four year old man decided not to take the car, but opted to walk due to his newfound fear of driving in cars. Though he wished that he had taken it tonight. The harsh winter air was brutal and crept into his clothes, stealing every bit of warmth that he managed to create. Instead of walking straight home like he normally would have, he decided to stop at his and Grimmjow's favorite coffee shop, Senkaimon, for something to warm his frigid body. Ichigo smiled as he entered the little coffee house, his nose now being filled with the always comforting scent of freshly brewed coffee and cinnamon.

"Welcome to Senkaimon! Would you like to try our new rose water infused herbal tea?" The peppy cashier asked as Ichigo approached the counter, politely declining her offer with a shake of his head.

"One large Peppermint Mocha, please." He ordered, taking out his debit card, only to be stopped by the cashier's small, soft hands, warming Ichigo's freezing ones almost instantly.

"This ones on the house." She smiled, steel gray eyes sending a warm chill down his spine. If that made any sense. "Anything else?" The ginger haired woman asked. When Ichigo didn't answer, her smile widened a bit. "I'm gonna put a lot of extra whipped cream and chocolate on top." The man nodded with a small smile. How could he say no to that? He really liked whipped cream.

On his way over to his favorite table, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. As he sat down, he saw that it was his younger sister, Karin, asking him if he was okay. He typed a quick response, letting her know that he stopped for coffee and that he would be home shortly. Curiosity got the best of him when he fished out Grimmjow's phone from his pocket. He kept it on him because Grimmjow was an artist and constantly received emails and texts regarding any job that had to do with art so he had to check them for him. A frown crept on to his face when no messages from his family were sent to the man's phone.

"How could you not contact your only son?" He mumbled to himself just as the cashier walked over with his coffee and a small bag.

"I got you some donut holes. The blueberry cake ones because I know how much you like them." She smiled. Ichigo nodded and instantly took to the coffee that was set before him, taking a long sip. Even though it was scalding hot, he didn't mind. It warmed the cold epicenter of his being. Though only a little. He sat in the chair beside the window and stared into the streets, watching the first snow of the year fall. _Grimm would have loved this._ He thought. Grimmjow loved the snow and would always want to make a snowman even if there wasn't much snow.

An hour and a half had passed without him realizing it until the shop owner announced that they were closing. The friendly cashier had made Ichigo another Peppermint Mocha, to go this time, seeing as how it was now snowing perfusely. She offered him a ride home but he refused, insisting that he walk because he loved the cold. The walk home was cold and silent. Quite lonely actually. When he arrived at his home, the one he shared with his beloved husband, he stared in awe at the massive accumulation of snow. With fond thoughts of Grimmjow, he set his coffee and donuts down and sat in the grass to make a small snowman.

Unknowingly, he was crying the entire time. It was far to cold to feel the tears. He was far too cold to feel a thing. He cried. And he shouted. And he chucked the pieces of the snowman in every which way before he broke down in the snow. How could this have happened to Grimmjow? His Grimmjow. He laid on his back in the cold winter snow for thirty minutes before he decided to go inside. Dying of hypothermia wasn't how he wanted to go. Once inside, he peeled off all of his wet clothing, took one of Grimmjow's sweaters from the closet and crawled into bed to spend another night alone. Without his soulmate...

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"I remember when I first told you that I loved you." Ichigo smiled, stroking Grimmjow's pale cheek. "I thought I scared you and that you didn't want to speak to me ever again. I think I would have died if you did. Then again, I almost died when you tackled me and planted feathery kisses all over my face, saying that you loved me too." For the third time since Grimmjow had been in the hospital, Ichigo cried, holding his husband's hand the entire time. "I-I remember how you got like this. It...It was my fault. If I hadn't accused you of cheating, you'd still be awake right now. You wouldn't have crashed into that tree if you hadn't been answering my call." He wept, his loud sobs racking his entire body. "I just wanted to apologize. I know you'd never cheat on me. I'm sorry. I-I dont know what came over me." Ichigo wiped his tears away after crying for half an hour.

Grimmjow wouldn't want me to cry. He would want me to smile.

"If you can hear me, can you answer a question for me?" He asked, again unsure of why he asked.

"Sure, go for it." A hoarse voice croaked, accompanied by a soft squeeze of Ichigo's hand. Ichigo looked up to see Grimmjow's breath taking blue eyes and award winning smile. God, how he missed that. Suddenly, Ichigo was sobbing violently, wrapping his arms around his husband. They stayed that way until the hiccups that Ichigo got from crying had passed. "Now, what question did you have for me, baby?" Grimmjow asked with a tender smile as he cupped Ichigo's cheeks.

"How are people like candles?" He asked, gently kissing each of Grimmjow's eyelids. Grimmjow smiled and ran a feeble hand through Ichigo's orange tresses.

"At any moment, a breeze can blow it out. So enjoy the light while you have it. It's like life, Ichigo." Ichigo smiled brightly and sunk his fingers into Grimmjow's sky colored hair. I suppose it is. Ichigo thought.

"I'll cherish your light for as long as I live. I'm not ready for your flame to go out." He whispered, kissing the warm lips that he longed for, for two whole months.

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**Okay guys, that's all. I know Grimm wasn't really in it all that much but still. Anyway, review and lemme know your thoughts. Special thanks to Patd06 for uploading this for me because my little sister is a destructive hellion and jacked up my computer :(**


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